Mr. Cuomo’s opaque ways

Our opinion: The governor’s censorship of records flies in the face of his vows of transparency.

The first floor of the building that houses the State Museum is where people of all ages can go for an enjoyable, condensed glimpse of New York history. For depth, however, historians and other researchers go upstairs, to the State Archives.

That’s where they find the raw records that help them peer back into the day-to-day drama and humdrum, which lend insight and texture to the understanding and retelling of history.

With exceptions.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo is blocking the release of all but the most superficial records of his term as attorney general. His actions fly in the face of his promise to have the most transparent, accountable administration in state history.

This is, unfortunately, part of a pattern of secrecy by Mr. Cuomo. So cautious is he about leaving anything but a well-crafted trail of press releases and scripted appearances that he’s even taken pains to avoid state or personal email. He communicates on his BlackBerry in a way that leaves no record, not even of who he spoke to.

Case in point: the records of the investigation Mr. Cuomo did as AG on former Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno’s travel on state aircraft, and on the compiling of records of that travel by then-Gov. Eliot Spitzer’s office. After a quick investigation, Mr. Cuomo concluded that Mr. Bruno acted within the bounds of lax state rules in using taxpayer-funded aircraft to attend political events, and that Mr. Spitzer’s office had improperly used the State Police for political purposes in having them compile records on Mr. Bruno’s travel, which were released to the Times Union under the state Freedom of Information Law.

It was a tumultuous chapter in the state’s recent history: open warfare between a governor and a legislative leader (both soon to be disgraced by other scandals), with multiple investigations — including one by an ambitious attorney general with eyes on the governorship himself. It cries out, even now, for detail.

That’s a stretch. These attorneys — Mr. Cuomo and his staff — worked for the public. It’s the client, not the lawyer, that attorney-client privilege is supposed to protect. We don’t hear the public calling for the records of a long-closed investigation to be kept secret.

As for the argument that there might be a few confidential sources to protect, all that would require is a few black-outs with a felt-tip pen, not the wholesale withholding of documents Mr. Cuomo is ordering. A leader committed to transparency would look for every reason to release records, not every excuse to withhold them.

Mr. Cuomo should know better than perhaps anyone else about the perils of misusing a state agency for political purposes.

The archives should be embarrassed to be a party to this. This institution bent if not broke its own rules, which require it to consult with the attorney general’s office, not the governor’s office, on a matter concerning AG records. Was it more expedient to go to the people who best know the records, who now happened to be in the governor’s office? Perhaps. But the archives’ own regulations require, in this case, the attorney general to make that call. The archives are an arm of the Education Department, under the Board of Regents, supposedly independent of the governor’s office, not a minion.

Attorney General Eric Schneiderman bears responsibility here, too. Clearing or blocking the release of these records is his call. His deference to Mr. Cuomo, while perhaps collegial, is inappropriate. These are public records, and allowing someone with a clear political interest to censor them should, at the very least, be subject to tightly drawn rules.

Mr. Cuomo’s office suggests that these are records for future generations, not for today. To which we would ask: When does history begin? Mr. Cuomo seems to think it’s a distant point in time, perhaps when whatever the records hold can’t affect his political career.

Those of us in the news business who write the first rough draft of history would say it starts right now, and that the time to learn from it is when it matters most.

3 Responses

One is reminded of the mysterious disappearance of George W. Bush’s National Guard records while he was governor of Texas. Cuomo obviously has much to hide about his tenure as AG. The misuse of the AG’s office to undermine his chief rival within the Democratic Party, Elliot Spitzer, would be especially embarrassing if revealed.

Just think: the one person who benefitted most from Spitzer’s demise is Andrew Cuomo. Spitzer stood between Andrew and his political future – the governorship and a potential presidential nomination. Surely if we can see this, Andrew did. And with his outsized ego and ambition, we can be assured that he acted upon it with every means at his disposal. As AG, Andrew had both the perfect opportunity and the means at his disposal to take down the biggest obstacle to his career.

These facts in themselves – the motive, the means, the opportunity, Spitzer’s fall and Andrew’s subsequent ascendency – circumstantial though they are, constitute the closest thing to a smoking gun we can expect to find against such a deft political operator as Cuomo.

If Andrew Cuomo had no hand in both uncovering and then peddling Spitzer’s involvement with call girls to the US Attorney’s Office, I’ll eat my hat.

I read that the “The New York Police Department will soon launch an all-seeing “Domain Awareness System” that combines several streams of information to track both criminals and potential terrorists.” So this must be good for political hits or peoples’ enemies lists. The amount of technology you all have at your disposal raises serious questions about how you use it. So far as I can see you are like Stalin on steroids. A lot of us are living history and we need to see what you have done in order to get a better idea about what you are doing. The paranoia is a telltale sign. A lot of people are suffering from it – I wonder why?

I would suggest that the records of the AG investigation into the Hevesi scandal should also be looked at. Why is Hevesi’s counsel, Alan P. Lebowitz, sitting in a cushy 140K a year position as “FOIL” officer for the division of Budget when Hevesi as AG investigated that agency?? It simply defies logic.